CLSS.ExtensionMethods.Object.ToStringFormattedBy

Problem

System.String.Format fulfills its role well in a general context. However, its syntax does not particularly lend itself well to functional-style call chain.

using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;

var queriedNode = JToken.Parse(rawJSON)
  .SelectToken(jsonPath)
  .Value<bool>();
var deprecationLabel = String.Format("This is an deprecated entry? {0}", queriedNode);

Solution

ToStringFormattedBy is an extension method created with functional syntax in mind. In your code, it conveys the intent of transforming an object into string form in a particular format more expressively.

using CLSS;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;

var deprecationLabel = JToken.Parse(rawJSON)
  .SelectToken(jsonPath)
  .Value<bool>()
  .ToStringFormattedBy("This is an deprecated entry? {0}");

The format string taken in by ToStringFormattedBy follows the same rules and syntax of composite formatting. Follow that link to learn more.

ToStringFormattedBy also takes in trailing variadic arguments. Since the source object calling ToStringFormattedBy will replace format item at index 0, trailing arguments following the format string will start at format index 1.

using CLSS;

// convert into some kind of subtitles markup
dialogue.ToStringFormattedBy("<color={1}>{2}</color>: {0}", character.ColorCode, character.Name);

Optionally, ToStringFormattedBy also takes in an IFormatProvider if passed in before the format string. This overload also takes in trailing variadic arguments.

using CLSS;

today.ToStringFormattedBy(customCultureInfo, "Today is {0}");

You can also call ToStringFormattedBy on any ICollection or ICollection<T>. The format items in the format string will map to elements in the source array in order of index number. Any trailing variadic argument the overloads for array take in will map to format items starting at the index number equivalent to the source collection's length.

using CLSS;

var versionDigits = new int[] { 1, 5, 3 };
var versionString = versionDigits.ToStringFormattedBy("{0}.{1}.{2}"); // "1.5.3"

This package is a part of the C# Language Syntactic Sugar suite.